Wind and Snow Loads—An International Perspective

Buildings need to be designed to withstand wind loads regardless of where they are located and the laws of physics governing wind loads do not change when crossing political boundaries, nor do basic statistical principles. Likewise in the colder regions of the world snow loads need to be designed for and design values should again be governed by the laws of physics and statistics. However, as any designer working internationally knows, the requirements of building codes can be very different in different parts of the world. Part of this is understandable due to the geographic dependence of climate. Some is also due to historically different approaches to risk and different rates of advancement technically. However, the largest cause is the large gaps in knowledge that still exist in many aspects of wind and snow loads, and these gaps will continue to exist, making international consensus difficult, unless some of the advanced countries decide to increase considerably the research funding directed to these topics. This presentation will discuss some of the differences and similarities of wind and snow provisions in the codes of various countries and discuss approaches to improving consistency and uniformity of methods.